Windows 7 on an old slow computer - what happened to my fresh install?

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oldpcman

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Oct 28, 2015
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I have an old laptop, which I reformatted and installed Windows 7 on.

At first, the laptop seemed to be running quickly, but after I installed some basic software, it slowed down considerably.

Here's what I installed:

firefox
chrome
adblock
ghostery
flash
office
skype
java
acrobat
.net

Would any of these programs slow down an old laptop with limited resources?

I have msconfig'd and switched off all programs at boot, also all non-Microsoft services.
 
Solution
J
A 32 bit copy would help to a certain extent. What are you looking to use it for? If you only plan to do a bit of general web browsing you may be better off installing a 32 bit linux distro perhaps ubuntu or for a real light weight operating system lubuntu would be even better.
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Joe Porter

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Aug 12, 2013
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I think the problem here lies with in your first sentence. "I have an old laptop". How old is this laptop? What processor has it got, how much RAM and which hard drive?

Your best bet is to open task manager have a look at the processes and see what is using all the memory? I am guessing you have a limited amount of RAM. Chrome can hog memory a bit, It uses a new process for every tab you have open.
 
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Joe Porter

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Aug 12, 2013
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I take it you installed windows 7 32 bit not 64 bit?

The processor doesn't/barely meets the minimum requirements so you are never going to get good speeds on that old laptop to be honest.

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit)

As I suggested have a look at task manager and see which processes seem to be hogging all the memory. Have a look at performance as well and see what % CPU usage you are getting.
 
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oldpcman

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Oct 28, 2015
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Joe Porter

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Aug 12, 2013
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A 32 bit copy would help to a certain extent. What are you looking to use it for? If you only plan to do a bit of general web browsing you may be better off installing a 32 bit linux distro perhaps ubuntu or for a real light weight operating system lubuntu would be even better.
 
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oldpcman

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Oct 28, 2015
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If it was for me, Linux would be a good solution, but I'm giving it to someone who has some experience with Windows, but is otherwise clueless with computers.

I'll try installing Win 7 32 bit, although it's a bit counter-intuitive when the processor is 64 bit.

I'm just confused that my fresh install ran fine, yet when I put the programs (listed above) on, it slowed to a crawl, even though none of them are (visibly) running background processes or taking up any memory.

I might even try XP :)
 
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Joe Porter

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Aug 12, 2013
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Well Windows 7 x64 has a minimum RAM requirement of 2GB. That's just for the operating system. Once you have applications on there as well it's asking a lot from the machine.

You could install XP x64 That should feel a lot quicker.
 
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oldpcman

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Oct 28, 2015
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Well, I ended up installing Win 7 32 bit. It felt slightly faster than the fresh install of Win 7 64, but not very much difference.

This time, the laptop didn't slow down after I installed a few basic programs, so I'm happy with the install, and I've made a self-bootable USB image of the HD.

Thanks for the help!
 
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